A gallery featuring several of our dearly departed "family members"...

Above: Emily Belle, a Nauticat 33 ketch motorsailer built in Finland. She took us around the Great Loop the long way including Nova Scotia and the Gaspe, the Trent-Severn, Great Lakes, Mississippi to New Orleans, Florida and the Bahamas. With a 90-hp Leyman diesel she cruised at 7.5 kts burning only 1.4 gal/hr. We spent a year and a half living aboard this wonderfully comfortable small yacht.

Above: Wind Rose was an EO-32 designed by Ted Brewer and built in Taiwan. A very comfortable 32-ft cutter. We brought her down from Lk Erie and sailed her out of Portsmouth, NH. We did take her as far as Florida and the Bahamas on one occasion. Replaced in 1985 by the even more comfortable, live-aboard vessel Emily Belle.

The next stage in our boating career was this converted 1905 Dutch motorbarge. She was 46 feet long, 12'-8" beam, and had a draft of only 2'-8", powered by an 80-hp Mercedes diesel, she was perfect for the canals of Europe. We bought her in Loosdrecht, NL and cruised the canals of Holland, Belgium and France as far south as Lyons. To this date, my wife Nancy still claims this to be her absolute favorite form of cruising. It certainly was most civilized! For more photos and info on our Dutch Canal Boat, Click Here.

This is the boat we were going to sail across the big pond -- and other great adventures, but it never happened. It's a Ushant 41 ketch motorsailer built in England (and originally owned by Cruising World editor, Marray Davis). We cruised from Maine to Georgetown in the Bahamas but we never got around to the blue water sailing this rugged boat was capable of. With roller furling headsails and main and mizzen furling as well, this boat was easily singlehanded. She was capable of sailing or motoring at 7 1/2 knots.

Here is Nancy Jeanne as featured on the cover of Cruising World in February 1983. Back then, she was named Turtle.

Finally, our little boat - and our first powerboat. The Mighty Mike was a Rosborough 246 bulit in Nova Scotia. It was powered by twin Honda outboards and cruised at 16 knots. She was easily trailerable, and with a little help from the trailer, we cruised this boat from the Bras D'Or Lakes in Nova Scotia to Key West, FL.

This photo is actually a 15-ft wide mural painted on our garage door by my daughter (when she was 21) showing the boat in Baddeck, Cape Breton Island, NS.